South Korea's National Pension Service, Jeonju, has entered into a $1.5 billion joint venture with real estate investment firm Hines to build mixed-use, residential, office and logistics properties worldwide, according to a joint news release.
The joint venture provides "ready capital for some interesting opportunities that will arise in the next 12 to 18 months, said David L. Steinbach, Hines global CIO, in an interview. For example, Hines executives expect that there will be opportunities to invest in sites in or near cities where properties are not often offered up for sale, but will be due to the pandemic, he said.
"Having the opportunity to invest, in and of itself, will be a once-in-a-career type of thing," Mr. Steinbach said.
Hyo-Joon Ahn, CIO of the 737.5 trillion won ($667 billion) NPS, said in the news release that the joint venture will provide significant opportunities to invest in "the highest-quality, bulletproof assets"
"The current economic climate, shaped by global responses to the pandemic, has impacted all sectors of commercial real estate," Mr. Ahn said.
The venture is expected to capitalize on the transformation of living environments, consumer behavior and use of space combined with new technology in real estate development, Mr. Ahn added.
Twenty percent of the capital has already been invested in projects in North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
"Our view is that there will be a flight to quality on the other side of this (pandemic)," Mr. Steinbach said.
